Healthy Living Newsletter

BE A HERO!
April is National Donate Life Month

Gifts come in many forms. Some gifts, like a new car or home, can be a reward for hard work. Some are personal: the trust of a good friend, the wisdom of a parent, the love of a child. And other gifts are so life-changing they remind us that there truly are heroes among us.

You’re invited to “Be a Hero” during April — National Donate Life Month — by making the commitment to be an organ and tissue donor.

Your decision to donate your organs can save the lives of eight people and improve the lives of 50 more through tissue donation.

Gift of Life Michigan recently reported that in 2006, 905 organs were transplanted, saving 103 more lives than the 802 organ transplants in 2005.

Now, it’s easier than ever to designate your desire to become an organ and tissue donor by adding your name to the Michigan Organ Donor Registry online: giftoflifemichigan.org. You can also visit any Michigan Secretary of State branch office.

Once you add your name to the donor registry, you will receive a red heart donor sticker to place on your driver’s license or state ID card.

Please be aware that even if you have already added your name to the donor registry in the past, unless you have the red heart sticker on your driver’s license your information must be updated.

Mercy Hospital actively participates with Gift of Life of Michigan by providing the medical expertise and resources to harvest organs and tissue on behalf of patients and donor families.

Last year, Mercy Hospital assisted in four Gift of Life donations. For staff and the generous families who take part, these heroic stories are truly life changing.

Each year 25,000 people nationwide receive the gift of life; and 77 patients in the United States receive an organ transplant each day.

For more than 50 years, organ transplants have been successful. What’s more, the gift of life is ageless, everyone can sign up to donate life at any age. And, there are no diseases that prevent signing up on the Michigan Organ Donor Registry.

For more information, call the Michigan Gift of Life at 1 (800) 482-4881.